


Taken

by mseg_21



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Eddie does, Eddie hates it, Established Relationship, Fluff, He doesn't like it, High School AU, M/M, Reddie, Richie has braces, Taken as in having your picture taken, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, and a lisp, picture day, richie loves it, until now
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-05-19 22:22:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14882316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mseg_21/pseuds/mseg_21
Summary: For the weekly reddie prompt on tumblr: "taken".





	Taken

Eddie Kaspbrak had always hated having his picture taken.

And like most things in his life, he had his mother to blame for that. Sonia Kaspbrak is _obsessed_ with documenting every single aspect of her son's life in the form of countless photographs, so much that Eddie is sure the only reason there aren’t any pictures of the moment he was born is because his mother was too busy giving birth to him to handle a camera. That and the fact that his father, from what he had been told, had been using all of his strength and focus in trying _not_ to pass out.

He is sure there are more albums filled with photos of him in his house than there are pills inside his fanny pack, something Richie has made fun of countless of times before.

Speaking of Richie, his boyfriend is the complete opposite. He absolutely _loves_ having his picture taken. He is the first one to pull a face or flash a smile the moment someone points a camera at him, while Eddie usually whines and rushes to hide his face from view instead. It annoyed Richie to no end that whenever he tried to get a picture of his boyfriend or of the two of them together, Eddie didn't let him. It annoyed him so much, that for his last birthday, Richie had told Eddie that he didn’t want anything but a picture of the two of them, one where you could actually see Eddie's face that was. Eddie had reluctantly agreed.

Richie still carried that picture around in his wallet.

The point is Richie loves cameras and photos, which is why it makes no sense that his boyfriend would decide to skip school today of all days when they are going to have their junior year picture taken.

That was an Eddie-expected behavior, or it would be if the school didn’t inform the parents as well as the students about picture day. Mrs. Kaspbrak had been all over him that morning, she had even chosen Eddie’s clothes for him, for heaven’s sake. Eddie had drawn the line when she showed up with a brush and some hair gel to style his hair herself, there was only so much he could handle. But the thing is, he knows that if he were to skip school and not have his picture taken, a few weeks from now when Mrs. Kaspbrak doesn’t receive said pictures she would bother Eddie to no end and he would rather avoid that.

So here he was, in his nicest pair of khaki pants and his red polo shirt, neatly ironed, waiting in line for a middle age man to sit him on a stool and ask him to flash those pearly white teeth at him, as if he was a six-year-old.

That's not what's bugging Eddie right no, but the fact that Richie is nowhere to be seen.  

They are being called inside by their last names, which means Eddie’s turn comes way before Richie’s, so he might still show up. But Eddie knows his boyfriend and he knows he wouldn’t pass on the opportunity to make stupid faces at Eddie from behind the camera in an attempt to get him to crack up.

Eddie looks around and spots Beverly a couple of people down the line. He tries to get her attention.

_Richie?_ He mouths. The guy in front of her, Tyler or Taylor MacLean, gives him a perplexed look, thinking it’s him Eddie is trying to talk to.

Beverly makes weird gestures with her hands, and Eddie stares blankly at her, unable to understand. At his expression, she rolls her eyes and leaves her place on the line to join Eddie, who is almost at the front.

“I said,” Bev rolls her eyes, good naturedly, “I was just over by the bleachers smoking, with him.”

“Since when, _this_ ,” Eddie mimics Beverly’s previous hand movements, adding some of his own, “translates to that?”

Beverly just shrugs.

Then something she says clicks in Eddie’s mind and he frowns, “Wait, Richie was smoking? That idiot, he knows he can’t smoke! Not since―”

“Jesus Eddie, relax,” Bev says, stopping her friend before he goes off about the consequences of smoking while wearing braces, “Richie wasn’t smoking, just keeping me company.”

“Oh,” Eddie says, anger draining from him as fast as it appeared, “Good. Well then, why isn’t he here?”

“He said he didn’t want to have his picture taken this year.”

Eddie stared at her in complete disbelief, “What? What the fuck? This is Richie we’re talking about. The same guy who went through an entire film roll in a day by taking pictures of only himself with Mike’s camera.”

Bev shrugs, “I know, and I said the exact same thing to him. But he said that these pictures were stupid and a waste of time.”

Eddie frowns, just like that, he is angry again, “If Richie thinks he can get away with not having his picture taken while I have to suffer through this, then he is fucking wrong. I’m going there and dragging his boney ass here―”

“Edward Kaspbrak,” the photographer’s assistant calls, interrupting him.

“―as soon as I get my own stupid picture taken,” he finishes.

Bev stifles a laugh and gives him two thumbs up before going back to her place.

Eddie goes inside the classroom that’s being used as a studio and sits on the stool. The assistant adjusts some of the lights while Eddie sits there awkwardly, wringing his hands.

“Okay, kid,” the photographer says, “Show me those shiny white pearls.”

Eddie plasters the most enthusiastic, yet fake smile he can muster and fights the urge to blink when the flash goes off. He doesn’t want to end up with a picture where his eyes are neither open nor closed and it looks like it was taken mid-sneeze. _Been there, done that._

When the picture is taken and the assistant tells him he can go, he hops off the stool and leaves the room, heading straight for the bleachers.

He finds his dumbass boyfriend right at the top, lying down with his feet propped up on the fence.

Eddie stomps over to where he is and stands there, casting a shadow over his boyfriend’s figure.

Richie’s eyes are closed but he can tell he is no longer alone. He opens his eyes to find Eddie glaring down at him, hands on his hips and lips pursed. He smiles, a big toothy grin that shows off his recently acquired braces, something Eddie still hasn’t gotten used to.

“Well, if it ithn’t my Eddie Thpaghetti,” his boyfriend says and there’s another thing Eddie hasn’t gotten quite accustomed to and it’s Richie’s new lisp.

It’s a really thick lisp and Richie has to try really hard to talk normally and if he isn’t paying attention, it slips, like now. Richie hates it but Eddie finds it completely adorable.

Right now though, Eddie is annoyed and he fights off the smile that’s threatening to appear and glares even harder at his boyfriend.

“Don’t call me that,” Eddie says, “What are you doing here?”

“I’m enjoying this beautiful afternoon, Eddie my love.”

“Do you know what day is today?”

“Tuesday?” Richie asks with a silly grin and Eddie can see how hard he has to try to keep it from coming out sounding like _Tuethday_ instead.

“It’s picture day.”

Richie gasps in mock surprise, sitting up straight, “Is it?” Eddie stares at him, unamused. He decides to change tactics, “That would explain why you look even more adorable today, _Edths_.”

Eddie has to stifle a laugh at the way Richie’s favorite nickname sounds now.

“You’re not using flattery to get out of this one,” Eddie says, pointing an accusing finger at him, “Why did you tell Bev you’re not having your picture taken?”

“Because I’m not,” Richie shrugs, “pictures are _thi_ _―_ fuck! They’re silly,” Richie struggles to say.

“Since when do you hate pictures?” Eddie asks.

“Since when you don’t?” Richie replies.

“I do, I hate them, but I had no choice but to suffer through it and neither do you. Only you’re not supposed to suffer because you love pictures.”

Richie huffs, “Not anymore.”

Eddie’s face scrunches up and he sits next to Richie, “What? Why?”

When his boyfriend doesn’t answer and refuses to meet his eyes, Eddie scoots closer and nudges Richie’s side, a silent encouragement.

Richie lets his head drop and he groans, “Because― Arrrgh, you’ll think I’m dumb.”

“Oh, Rich, that ship has already sailed,” Eddie says, trying to get Richie to relax.

It works and he lets out a chuckle. Eddie waits patiently for him to speak, finally Richie sighs, “I don’t want a picture of me looking like this.”

Eddie frowns, _looking like what?_

He studies Richie, with his mismatched socks, colorful Hawaiian shirt thrown over a graphic t-shirt, his numerous bracelets and charms all over his wrists, his messy curls and coke-bottle glasses and nothing strikes Eddie as out of the ordinary.

He voices his thoughts, “What do you mean like this? You look like you always do.”

“Yeah, except for these.” Richie bares his teeth at Eddie and points at his mouth, where his braces sparkle in the sunlight.

Eddie tilts his head to the side, “Your… braces?”

Richie nods, “They make me look like a nerd.”

Eddie snorts, “Babe, I hate to say this but you _are_ a nerd and your glasses kind of already did that,” he says and nudges Richie’s leg with his, offering him a smile.

But Richie doesn’t laugh. “You’re not helping, _Edths_ _―_ Fuck! _Eds!”_ He groans, “That’s another thing I hate, this fucking lisp!”

Eddie purses his lips, he doesn’t like to see Richie like this. He puts his hand on Richie’s shoulder and smiles sweetly at him, “I don’t. I think it’s cute, the braces too.”

Richie scoffs, “You’re my boyfriend, you’re supposed to say that.”

“Do you say I’m cute and adorable and handsome just because I’m your boyfriend?”

Richie gasps, “Of course not! I say that because it’s the truth!”

“So do I, Rich,” Eddie says, “And the truth is, I love how you look in those braces.”

Richie narrows his eyes at him, unconvinced, “You do?” Eddie nods furiously.

It makes Richie’s lips press together in a tight-lipped smile and Eddie realizes that Richie has taken to smile that way more and more since he got braces, as if trying to hide them from view.

Eddie is having none of that.

“Now kid, give me a real smile! Show me those beautiful pearls!” Eddie says, imitating the school’s photographer.  

He can tell Richie is trying hard to keep his mouth closed, but in the end, he fails. He ends up giving Eddie a broad smile that makes his eyes crinkle up in the corners and a cute little dimple to appear on his cheek.

The sight makes Eddie’s stomach stir with butterflies and the smile he gives in return is just as bright and filled with love and affection for his boyfriend. 

“Thank you, Eds,” Richie says and kisses his boyfriend’s lips, before murmuring, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Eddie says and grabs Richie’s hand, standing up, “Now let’s go get that picture of yours.”

-

The two of them get there just as the photographer is putting his camera away, having finished for the day.

“Wait!” Eddie calls out, as he runs down the hall, draggin Richie behind him, “I’ve got one more for you!”

“We already called everyone on the list,” the assistant says.

“We know and we’re sorry. Richard Tozier, reporting for my picture,” Richie says, grinning innocently at her.

The woman narrows her eyes at them, but then her gaze softens and she glances down at the list that’s still in her hands.

“Alright Mr. Tozier, take a seat.”

“Awesome! Thank you, lady!” Richie says, throwing his fist in the air. Then he peck’s Eddie’s cheek and goes to sit on the stool.

The photographer readjusts his camera, turns to Richie and says, “Alright, show me those pearls, young man!”

Eddie snorts from where he is standing behind the man and watches as the flash goes off at the same time as Richie breaks into a grin. He sees the picture appear on the computer screen that’s placed on a desk nearby a few seconds later. Eddie thinks it might be his favorite picture of Richie, ever.

Richie thanks the photographer and his assistant again, for taking his picture and offers to help with taking down the lights and the rest of the equipment in exchange.

While he does that, Eddie approaches the man, “Excuse me, sir, do you think I can have a copy of that photo?

“Of course, son, I’ll tell Jessica to print an extra copy for you.”

-

A couple of weeks later, they receive their photos. Richie thinks it’s a mistake when he finds an extra copy inside his envelope until Eddie tells him that he asked for it.

“Now you’re not the only one with a picture of his boyfriend in his wallet," Eddie says, sliding the wallet into his back pocket after placing the photo inside. 

“Aw Eds, if you wanted my face on your ass all the time, all you had to do was ask,” Richie says, winking at Eddie.

In response, Eddie flips him off but he is smiling, he might still hate pictures, but he sure as hell can appreciate being able to carry a photo of his boyfriend everywhere and being able to see Richie smiling up at him every time he opens his wallet.  

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave a comment and tell me what you think <3


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